Sky announces factual content push

Sky has confirmed it's stepping up its commitment in providing factual programming to its subscribers, providing insight into what would have been the pay TV operator's back-up plan had Discovery's channels been removed from the platform.
Within minutes of the confirmation that the carriage dispute between Sky and Discovery had been resolved, Sky announced that a new agreement had been struck with PBS, enabling Sky to provide a range of factual programmes from the US broadcaster, although the scope of the deal was initially unclear, as PBS already broadcasts a service on Sky, as well as Freesat: PBS America. In October 2015, PBS America switched from pay TV to free-to-air television and launched on Freesat.

Additionally, Sky has confirmed it will be adding over 1,000 hours of factual programming on its on-demand service, which will include content from History and National Geographic. The expansion of its factual on-demand area was originally planned to be announced as a replacement for the loss of Discovery content, but is now being offered as an additional benefit for Sky subscribers.